A Smaller God
by Vanto
Summary: Saved from the clutches of death by a vampire, Heather Poe needs to cope with her new existence and evolve in a hidden, aggressive world. Discover her story as she encounters protagonists of different clans and mentalities.
1. Dahlila 1

**SMALLER GOD**

Heather sat alone, in her apartment.

Not her apartment, _her _apartment.

The place was… special, perhaps ? She tried to clean it up, but found a lack of success with it thus far, with the stains proving too tough to overcome for the detergent. The bed was dirty and unkempt, and the incredibly small kitchen served as the final resting place of an abandoned pizza. The bathroom itself was small and somewhat dirty, but less than the main room.

Heather turned to the windows and contemplated the street below, though she was careful not to glance at the hospital for too long. Santa Monica was… perhaps not the nicest town, especially with the mysterious yet brutal Southland Slasher roaming about. She also heard of other events within the town through the news, such as the mysterious dinner vigilante or the trashing of the paintings at the Gallery Noire.

It would be quite natural for Heather Poe to be distraught over her condition, all alone in a dirty apartment in this part of town, shortly after the loss of her parents.

But yet, she was not that upset over it. Oh, it was present, of course, but it was minor, pushed back within her head, a mere whisper that she learned to ignore. She was herself confused over her minor trauma over her recent misfortunes, but very much like said trauma, her doubts were small and temporary. Rather than sadness, she was feeling… giddy, like a child patiently awaiting a parent's authorization before devouring a candy.

And said feeling grew as she heard heavy footsteps down the hallway, quickly climbing the stairs to reach the apartment. Before Heather could even prepare, the figure almost burst into the room, slamming the door behind her.

Her clothes were long, hiding her body beneath a dark coat. She could, faintly, see a black turtleneck shirt beneath the coat, in stark contrast with the paleness of her skin.

Though calling it pale would probably be an understatement. The goth's skin was closer to grey, and, upon closer inspection, was smooth and devoid of veins this time. Her eyes were locked away beneath small, thin shades. Her hair was of ebony, long and unkempt. She stood straight and had long, branch-like arms, with thin black nails.

Her posture was rigid, and she had no useless movements. She never ever fidgeted nor blinked, and Heather swore that she felt that no air was escaping her lips, a lesser person would be unnerved, terrified even, by the absence of such features, made by a being so close yet to far to a human.

And yet, Heather felt no fear as she looked down at her. Every trait that others would find creepy, she found profoundly appealing.

"I'm so glad you're back, I've been waiting here just like you asked ! Your place is, hm… nice."

Heather fidgeted, and the bizarre woman stood straight for a moment or two, only smiling after a few seconds.

She had fangs, bloody fangs. She could've seen them without her glasses, if only because of how wide the smile was.

"Haaaaaa, Heather, right ? This haven of mine is your new home." She said. "It's dirty, but with you here, it'll be cleaned up in no time."

The redhead tilted her head to the side, almost in rebuttal, but the thought disappeared as soon as it appeared. Instead, the woman nodded.

"Ha, I see. Don't worry, I'll clean it for you ! I'll spend the day away on it if you want to !" answered Heather. "Is… is there anything else I could do to please you ?"

The taller woman folded her arms thoughtfully and headed for her bed, sitting down. Her new companion, nearly instinctually, headed for the bed as well, but stopped her advance when the pale woman raised her leg to deny her passage.

"Yes, but first, there is something that you need to know."

"Oh, are you married ? Is that why…"

"No. I am a vampire. You are my ghoul, a blood-bound servant." Retorted the woman. "I'd ask "do you still love me"… but your feelings on the matter are of no worth to me anyway."

A vampire ? Heather laughed nervously. The woman had a supernatural allure to her, and those wooden boards were suspicious, but vampires, very much like werewolves or mages, are but a thing of fiction. The teeth… well, some people were into bizarre surgery, right ?

"Is this a slang ? Some kind of fetish perhaps ? Not a "Bleh, bleh !" vampire, right ? You shouldn't worry anyway, I do not understand but…"

The woman rose to her feet and, in an instant, grasped Heather by her shoulders. Her stature was thin and tall, yet her hands were akin to claws grasping on Heather, nearly crushing her bones and preventing her escape.

"It doesn't matter if you understand it or not, just give me your blood !"

By all means, Heather should be intimidated, but she found no terror in her predicament. For some reason, her position even _excited _her. And she found no shame in her pleasure, smiling even as her master bore her teeth and dug them into the ghoul's neck.

And her pleasure became ecstasy.

A warm feeling ran all over her body from head to toe. Her vision grew distorted, taking her through various dimensions made out of esoteric colours. Whatever doubt remained was crushed and scattered into the wind alongside the rest of her problems. Her parents became strangers, and Santa Monica flew off into the distance with the apartment, leaving her alone with her master.

Heather tried drugs once, at school, shortly before the accident. She found it greatly enjoyable at the time, but even then, the drug's effects paled in comparison to the vampire's kiss that she was receiving.

Heather closed her eyes, drawing out the sensation, until darkness took over, though even then, this abyss proved to be warm.

The redhead stood in said darkness for seconds, begging for it to stay as it slowly made way for reality once more. Her ears awoke to the sound of police cars, and she heard the familiar voice of the newscaster, blurry, at first, but soon clear.

"In other news, an apparent third victim of the Southland Slasher has prompted the closing of the Santa Monica pier…"

Her vampire master glanced over at the small TV, putting various objects in the fridge while doing so. Heather would usually doubt the brilliance of such a move, especially since the woman was placing books or photos, but her thoughts were quickly overwhelmed by regret. Regret for daring to even doubt her master.

The ghoul's hand flew and met her own cheek, prompting a reaction from her master, who turned around and raised a curious eyebrow.

"It… it is nothing master. I was just jolting myself awake to serve you."

"… Good. Put those wooden things on the window, the sun's about to rise."

"Of course my master."

A night went by, and Heather grew to her life surprisingly quickly.

Normally, the sheer mental trauma of the reveal would be significant. A poor young woman, having lost her parents, is stripped of her freedom by a horrific beast of the night, and she definitely was not like those funny vampires on TV, with their accents and capes.

By all means, she should be plotting her escape or, at least, be laying in a fetal position somewhere, broken yet unable to act. But she was… fine ?

Heather was contemplating her sleeping master, taking the time to observe more of her features. She found amusement in her desire to sleep with her shades on, or the idea of a vampire sleeping on a bed instead of a coffin. Sometimes, she listened to the radio or watched the TV, but found nothing worth of interest.

She was afraid of accidentally causing too much noise, but the master (she never ever bothered with a name) never stirred, grunted or switched positions, being content with spending the day on her back, with eerie stillness. Heather dared to check her pulse, out of curiosity, but she found none. Strangely enough, that didn't worry her.

Her E-mails (sunrise was the password, as said by a letter next to the computer) were mostly instructions by a certain "Mercurio" or "LaCroix", though her master was also on the receiving end of texts from "A Friend", containing chess allegories. Said friend might've been the one who sent that other letter, with the poem on it.

Heather wished to delve deeper into the mysteries, but she was afraid of accidentally breaking her master's affairs. Thus, she mostly spent the final hours of the day sitting there, awaiting her master's awakening, upon which.

For some reason, this seemed quite normal to her.

Heather was, once again, alone in the apartment. The Master was on the look out for a certain "Grout", though she denied any explanation on who was Grout and why he went missing. She did, however, wrote down a hasty letter, explaining the "rules" of the vampiric world to her ghoul, including the "Masquerade" that all supernatural beasts lived by.

The letter was dismissive in tone, and yet, the redhead was holding it to her chest, stroking the paper slowly, as if letting go of the letter would erase its existence. Her devotion to it was such that she spent at least ten minutes finding a good spot to set it down before going out for a walk.

Yes, she was in charge of keeping the haven "clean", but Heather knew that the master needed –no, _deserved- _more than this.

And thus, into the night she went, surely, nothing bad would happen.

…

The man with the red shirt dropped easily. Heather was aware of her new physical dominance as a "Ghoul", but she never thought that she'd be able to fell a man with such ease.

The redhead stared at her clenched fist, then at the crumbled heap of a man below her, then back at her fist and then the man. She didn't quite know what he wanted out of her, admittedly, but her master recommended vigilance around the town, and Heather quite agreed : after all, didn't they found a maniac's body at the end of the street that they lived on ?

Still, Heather felt a little sorry about what she did, though, like the dilemma with her parents, it soon vanished and made way for more practical concerns, such as the fact that the man was in a prime position to alert the authorities if he wanted to, after waking up.

The ghoul, at least, was able to lead the man into following her to the dark alley that led to her apartment, which would make it easier to…

To…

Perhaps she could…

Her new strength made it surprisingly easy to carry the man to her apartment, and luckily for her, no residents happened to conveniently step out to greet her, allowing Heather to quickly access her room, closing the door behind her afterwards. Crouching down, in an effort to avoid being seen by someone on the street from the windows, she quickly laid his body in the bathroom.

The ghoul walked back and folded her arms, carefully preparing herself. If he were to awaken before her return, he'd try to escape. And while she could overpower him, it's likely that she'd damage him too much for her master to enjoy.

Quietly, the realization began to set in, and Heather not-no nonchalantly began to search for some duct tape and perhaps even rope, but those were (surprisingly enough) missing.

"Firefighters are trying to contain a flash fire in the Hollywood Hills this evening…" warned the newscaster in the background, as the woman continued to try and search for something that could prevent any escape. Briefly, she eyed the pizza box in the kitchen and moved to try to take it apart, thinking that a part of it could, perhaps, be shoved in his mouth to prevent any noises.

As for the rope, holding him down could work ? She had a load of patience anyway.

Before Heather could get her hands on the box, however, she heard some groaning from the bathroom. Panicked, she took a few steps back, running from one part of the room to the other but turning around before she could reach her destination. Maybe she could intimidate him into not leaving ? She did knock him out, so the man could be intimidated perhaps…

The woman searched for an appropriate weapon to hold, but was surprised (and somewhat relieved) when she heard quiet footsteps, heading for her room. But, once again, panic settled again ! She thought that the master would be satisfied with her prize, but perhaps this could endanger the masquerade itself ! Quick, she had to find a reason !

Before she could form a coherent scenario in her head, however, Heather was surprised to find the Master standing before her, blood flowing forth out of the ground to form a small blood sphere, hovering above the palm of her hand.

Ho, the blood from his head injury ! Heather moved to smack herself in the head but relented, reminding herself of her new strength.

"What is the meaning of this, Heather ?" asked the master. Heather blinked, only noticing the smell of ashes and blood emanating out of her. The blood made sense but the ashes..

"Ho, you're back ! I, I went out this evening and, well, I met someone and he wouldn't…"

The air grew colder, and the vampire's thin eyebrow lowered.

"… I wanted to bring you a, huh, snack ! S-sorry, I messed up and I forgot the rope and the gag ! I am…"

"Hm, a snack ? Goood." Said the goth. "I love to come home with dinner waiting."

The vampire stepped forward, with the blood sphere vanishing into her skin, and laid her hand on Heather's shoulder. It was cold, extremely so : being stabbed by an icicle would offer a warmer feeling, in both senses of the word.

And yet, she wished that time would freeze on this moment, even for only an instant.

"You… should avoid bringing me dinner, since the cattle could get suspicious, but this is a good initiative on your part, Heather. You're more of a predator than I thought. Why, you're more of a predator than some of those wimpy kindred I met."

"Oh… thank you, master ! Thank you !" she answered, almost falling to her knees. The blood mage's reaction to this amounted to a mere smile, though she briefly dropped it to look at the rest of the room.

Banging could be heard on the bathroom door, but she did not react to it.

"Good, everyone's gone." She says. "I'm going to be busy, Heather. Get confortable and watch some TV."

The ghoul nodded and crawled backward, as her master approached the door and swung it open. The bleeding man stumbled backward in shock, and his eyes laid on Heather for a second before the door locked behind her vampire master.

"Hey, what the hell is this shit ?! Let me…"

Heather sat back and did as her master told, though her viewing was disrupted more than once.

How long was that man going to scream ?


	2. Mercurio

"Get rid of his body." Ordered the master. "I made it easy for you."

And, with that, she vanished into the night once more, again not telling Heather about the nature of the mission at play. However, the ghoul truly did not mind. The master was, without a doubt, taking care of matters beyond her comprehension, and was, without the shadow of a doubt, potent enough to deal with these problems herself.

So, the redhead resolved to scrub the room of any red stains before the end of the night. The… remaining bits were, thankfully, small enough to fit into the toilets. As for the blood stains, she went at it the hard way, scrubbing it out with whatever she could find and then tossing that down the toilet as well.

About… several days ago, she was contemplating a family trip with her parents, away from the city. Now, here she was, cleaning after a violent, recluse vampire. And still, her thoughts were nothing but faint whispers, present, yet faint and ignored. This time, though, she only stopped in her tracks once, briefly contemplating her predicament before going back to work.

Her dilemma was but a thing of the mind, whereas the clean-up could embarrass her master. For, even with most of the blood mysteriously gone beforehand (which she attributed to her master's mastery over blood), the stench… Heather gagged and walked out, quickly opening a window. Truth to be told, such stain is not one so easily carried away by a breeze however, forcing Heather into a dilemma.

Should she leave and fetch an item to truly complete her quest ? Or wait it out and potentially anger her master upon her return ? The sunrise was a mere two hours away, and the master was unlikely to return right before it. There was a pawn shop, but she was unsure that it would have what she needs. She did not fear the inhabitants of the dark alleys of Santa Monica though, with the famous Slasher being away in Downtown, she was confident in her ability to swiftly neutralize whatever threat could rise out from a pile of trash.

In the end, Heather took her chances with attempting to find a shop, and strode out of the apartment in a hurry, taking her wallet with her as well. However, before she could fully exit the building, she was surprised to find a man at the entrance.

He looked like he leapt out of a 70s crime movie. His hands, once taken out of his pockets, had various little rings all over them, making noise whenever he moved his fingers. His refined clothes belonged to someone who could clearly afford to live somewhere else and she could feel some perfume coming off him. Her sharpened senses could detect some faint marks over his face and paler-than-usual skin, but for the average human, one would need to be very close to even identify them.

"Hello." He greeted. "I'm Mercurio, don't panic, I'm here to help you with your problem, miss."

At that point, he blinked once. Heather stood there in confusion for a moment : Was he a Kindred ? Was he, perhaps, another ghoul ? Or was he some creep ? She couldn't tell yet. She knew, however, that she could easily overpower him should he reveal his nefarious intentions. Thus, without much fear, she responded.

"Yes… Huh, over here." Pointed Heather, using her thumb. The man followed her in silence, and the two Ghouls walked over to the apartment. He seemed pretty casual, but Heather was pondering, imagining, plotting. If he had nefarious intentions and she had to knock him out, would she need to bring him to the police ? Or offer him as a meal ? Her vampire master said that she shouldn't do it anymore, though…

Her thoughts were promptly interrupted by a cough, and Heather turned around in time to see him point at the bathroom. She answered with a silent nod, though he already knew what to do. As he walked into the bathroom, she closed the door behind her and amped the sound of the TV.

"Yeah… you've got rid of all the body parts but the stench ? Not easy to go. I've got stuff to take care of it though, just stay put."

Mercurio, as he was named, left and came back after only a few minutes, carrying (to her worry) a whole black bag of stuff.

"Now, this is going to be easy…"

…

It wasn't.

Buutt, at the very least, Heather's enhanced senses were freed of the stench of the corpse, indicating that her endeavour with Mercurio was successful. The other ghoul was sitting down near the bed, calmly contemplating the news and checking his watch every so often.

"Thank you for your help ! I'll tell my master about it !"

"Heh, don't worry about it." He says. "She asked me to do it, said that you're probably not too experienced in the cleaning business."

"How kind of her !"

Mercurio chuckled at her glowering praise, though he raised an eyebrow in confusion more than once.

"So… when did she get her hands on ya ?"

"At the hospital ! I was… caught in an accident with my family and… I could've died, but I heard her voice. She said that she'd get help and, well, she fed me her own blood !"

"Huh… she probably did it while she was searching some morphine for me. Well, glad to know that you've survived, how's the ghoul life going for you ?"

"I… appreciate it. It's kind of odd, though.. I feel stronger and faster and… and things that I would've never have been before just come to me now."

"Yeah, feels good huh ? And you won't ever age too ! Tell ya, if it weren't for the vamp blood, I'd be some sixty-years old geezer by now."

That explained his fashion and experience at least. Heather carefully considered his words, though. No aging ? She'd need to get used to it. Never aging at such a young age is a gift that plenty would be willing to acquire, after all. And the one person that she cared for is also forever beyond the reaches of the withering hands of time, nullifying immortality's biggest minus, so to speak.

A wiser mind would realize that it meant an eternity of servitude, but, placed under the curse of the blood bond, she had no care for such trivial matters.

"Yeah, yeah. But be careful, you ain't invincible."

Mercurio coughed a little and grabbed a cigarette, offering it. Out of reflex, she denied it.

"First off, you're not invincible. You're tougher for sure, and you can heal, but you've got limits. And you're going to discover them pretty soon if you get surprised, even by humans, especially if they have guns… luckily for ya, the morons out there are content with their peashooters and little knives, but they can still mess you up if you get caught."

"Right…"

"Oh, and vampires… Kindred, right, yeah, don't ever tangle with one. They're stronger naturally, and they have access to weird powers. Some are just going to smash you into pieces, but others… they can mess with your mind, get you to drop dead, go insane, that kind of stuff. Never pick a fight with them."

"Understood… I'll tell my master to take care of them, then."

"And even the other ghouls. I'm being nice to ya, but the others won't be as considerate. There's no real brotherhood between ghouls, so always be wary, alright ? I've got a debt towards your boss, but everyone else, they're just potential enemies, so keep an eye on them."

Heather shook her head in answer, not excepting for this new world to be so… treacherous. For a moment or two, she dared to be worried for her boss. At least Heather, so far, was content with staying in her apartment. But the vampire was always walking out into the night, deep into that society of intrigue and backstabbing, always finding herself at the heart of conflict…

"It's not really fun, heh ? And also, you better hope that she'll feed you, because without the vampire vitae, age tends to catch up with a vengeance. You're too young to be affected, but if the boss stops the flow, my youth's going to fade. However, you're not out of trouble : without blood, ghouls tend to get pretty jumpy, and that might get you in trouble if you approach a human carelessly, see what I'm saying ?"

Oddly enough, this drew little reaction out of her. For, after all, surely the vampire vitae would never run out, right ?

"I see.. could you tell me about those other ghouls then ?"

"Hum ? There are a few here, aligned with the Camarilla too. Well… it's complicated. Alright, first one is Knox. He looks sympathetic but he was a bounty hunter back in the days. He'll try to be friendly, but it's an act for the most part. Heard he even tried to trick your boss."

Heather frowned. How could he ? The fact that Mercurio was still employing the present tense for Kox was nothing short of a miracle. Her master truly was patient to allow a ghoul to even attempt such a trick !

"He's in deep shit though, but don't tell him."

"How so ? Is he in trouble with his master ? Or with mine ?"

"Heh ? Nah, but he was ghouled by a Nosferatu. They're ugly, way uglier than any other vampire, "break the masquerade if they even enter a mortal's line of sight" ugly, ya know ?"

"How unfortunate, so…"

"Yeah. The process's slower for ghouls, but… let's say we meet up in a century, right ? Well, he's going to look like roadkill. And only because it's been only a century."

Would she ever live for a century ? Heather never truly considered living for so long. Again, however, such matters were brushed aside. She didn't need to find any goal, for she had one already : to please her master."

"Is there another ?"

"Yeah, Vandal Cleaver. With a name like that, he was always going to be a creep if you ask me. He practically live in his office at the blood bank. He was ghouled by the Asylum's owner, or so I heard."

Huh. For some reason, her lack of surprise at this fact was not to blame on her blood bond. The Asylum's owner not being a vampire would've been more shocking.

"He likes to ham it up like an actor, but he's not much. You're probably going to be seeing him if Dahlila ever send you out to buy some blood bags during the day."

"I know how to deal with creeps, I…"

"You can't exactly deal with this creep like how you dealt with the other."

"Of course but… don't worry, I'll be on the lookout. How many Kindred are there in Santa Monica ? And how did you meet… Dahlila ?"

"There's a bunch of weaker ones at the beach. They're pretty friendly and they mostly keep quiet. Vampires go by generations, you see ? The lower you get, the stronger you will be. Those vamps are at the bottom of the list in power. Some Camarilla folks get skittish about them for some reason."

"And… what about stronger vampires ?"

"There's Bertram, but I don't know where he's hiding, and word is, finding a Nosferatu is pretty much impossible. There's Jeanette and Therese Voerman too. They're both crazy but one is a bit better at hiding it. And, finally, there's Dahlila. Your… savior."

He briefly took the opportunity to check his watch.

"I was supposed to meet her up during her arrival. But… obstacles happened, and when she found me, I was in a bad shape."

"And she healed you, right ? As she did for me ! She truly is kind !"

"… Well, she did call me an idiot and told me that I deserved to suffer but… right, she brought me my morphine, my money and materials. Kind of a jack… a hard person to work with, but I heard that she did a lot of work around town. Killed some chinese vampire, blew up some Sabbat thugs, you know… most Kindred rarely ever get to see this kind of action in years at her "age"."

"How amazing ! She truly is of unparalleled power ! By a century, when we meet again, perhaps I'll be royalty !"

"… Err, yeah. Just… don't forget to cover your windows, hm ? All that power doesn't mean much when up against the sun."

"Right ! There's not much time left ! Thank you for your time, Mercurio !"

Mercurio nodded, turned around, and walked out of the apartment, closing the door behind him. Not one to really dwell on subjects, Heather got to work on the windows, noticing that the ghoul did apparently live a very short walk away from the apartment, going by the casual way he entered a nice-looking building just down the street.

Heather, meanwhile, tried not to think about the wet stuff on the wooden boards.

…

Once more, the master entered like a hurricane, quickly walking up towards the bathroom and almost ripping the door off its hinges.

After some seconds, she breathed in and turned around, walking up to Heather and petting the top of her head.

"Good work, my ghoul. I see that Mercurio made himself useful."

"Indeed, he was of great help to me !"

"Good. The Santa Monica ghouls are seemingly more efficient than the ones from Downtown… urgh."

"How did your trip to Downtown go ?" said Heather, catching an opportunity.

"I'll tell you later, when the sun's down. Before I go to sleep, though, I'm going to give you a reward, my little pet."

Without any hesitation, Dahlila pulled a knife out of a coat within her pocket and stabbed herself in the arm, before holding it up. By sheer instinct, Heather moved forward, grabbing the limb and attempting to drink the flow of blood that drew forth from the wound.

Never before has she ever drunk anything of such taste. Describing her pleasure with mere words would be difficult for all but a Malkavian. Suns exploded forth as her mind opened itself to new sensations, her body found itself yearning for more within seconds, with each drop of vitae being better than the last ! Eons drew forth and yet she did not move, frozen forever, still sucking at the arm.

When her master pulled away, the ghoul dared to reach once more, but stopped herself at the last second, her hair in shamble as her glasses laid on the floor, near a few drops of blood. The ghoul promptly grabbed her shirt, stained with blood as well, in a desperate attempt to acquire the vitae that was spilled on it.

Then, a sharp pain on the cheek interrupted her, and Heather fully awoke, facing her master and her raised hand. Curiously enough, the wound was already closed, though some kind of vampiric super healing.

"Don't overstep your bounds, ghoul." Declared Dahlila, with great authority in her voice. Heather, in answer, readjusted her shirt and glasses, breathing loudly, like an athlete struggling to complete a task.

"I… I… I got carried away, I…"

"Hm… I hope that you won't get this intoxicated very time. It's embarrassing." Affirmed the vampire. "And the stuff that embarrass me, I annihilate it, understood ?"

"Indeed, indeed ! Forgive me, for I desire so much when you already offer me pleasures beyond my comprehension !"

The vampire sighed and walked away unto the bed, grabbing her wallet and tossing some cash at her ghoul beforehand.

"Get me some fresh clothes and blood during the day." She said. "You may proceed to sleep afterwards, but only after you are done."

"Alright. Anything for you, master Dahlila !"

The Tremere huffed in answer, and… crumpled, seemingly entering a torpor. Heather sighed and, carefully, prepared herself to do some shopping.


End file.
